


The Learning Process

by playtherain (orphan_account)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, and then humans learning alternian, language barriers, shhhhhhhh, trolls learning english, yes there are plot holes just ignore them k
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-12-04
Packaged: 2018-02-20 16:06:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2434835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/playtherain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unexpected language barrier draws everyone up short, and in the midst of trying to teach the trolls English, Rose discovers that Kanaya Maryam is a very distracting creature.<br/>This doesn't really make teaching her English any easier.</p><p>Alternatively titled: In Which A Language Barrier Presents Itself, Karkat Flips His Shit And Then A Plan Is Made To Teach The Trolls To Speak A Language They Can All Use (And Later Rose Decides To Turn The Tables Just To Mess With Kanaya)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually going to be a fairly long fic, because there are so many things in this I want to explore.  
> Like language kinks. Ah yes.
> 
> LEEEEESBIANSSSS
> 
> EDIT: Formatting has been figured out and added!

You hadn't really known what to expect upon arriving on the meteor. For all you new God powers showed you, there were rare, but frustrating times in which you are blind to certain aspects of the future.

You knew that there would be a common room, in which many hours of your time would be spent writing in the journal you knew you were to keep. But as you examined this future, you knew there was some element you were missing, like a part of it was veiled in shadow.  
As the Seer of Light, you are posession of knowledge you have no hope of explaining verbally without possibly starting up a game of interstellar Pictionary with your new alien comerades.

You and Dave found yourselves exiled to the common room from your visions, only it was lacking the colourful decorations. The meteor was cold and metal, with hard black surfaces and pipes everywhere. It would have likely been dark, had you not uncovered a stash of candles in your sylladex.  
Not one of your troll aquaintances ever spoke to you, or even showed their faces. Outside the common room door was a dead-end hallway, and another automatic steel door, with no touch pad to open it. At night, however, when you and your brother were nestled between Dave's bedclothes and a very large velvet pillow serving as a bed, you heard low murmurs in the hallway. They were never in English, but they were always two of three constant voices: a low, gruff whisper, a higher trill, and a mid-toned rasp.  
Within your forced privacy, you and Dave pondered this.

"I no longer feel comfortable with the situation," you admitted one night, as Dave removed his shades and cape, "in part, because my Seer powers aren't working. I'm flying blind, so to speak."

Dave climbed under the sheets, and you rested your head on the shoulder and arm he offered to you. "There's gotta be a reason they're keeping us here, Rose. Maybe it's a cultural thing and they're afraid of offending us," he said, but not even Coolkid Strider sounded sure. In truth, neither of you felt comfortable simply opening the door to the hallway voices anymore. There was the distinct feeling that something was going on: that you shouldn't interfere. You despised it.  
"The fact that they haven't even deigned to speak with us, I suppose, is what troubles me most. They're our friends." You toyed with the sleeve of Dave's red pyjama shirt while you waited for him to respond. When he didn't, you tilted your head up to peer at his face. His eyes were open, and a small frown had settled solidly between his brows. You marvelled at what ascending to god tier had changed in your older brother: his jaw seemed more defined, his cheeks less round. Older. And in some ways, more troubled. Was it ascending that had really changed him, or had you just not noticed him growing up?  
When Dave finally spoke, it was in an annoyed whisper.

"Open the door tonight, Rose. I don't want to be treated like a fucking quarantined hospital patient forever."

You agreed that when the voices began that night, you would get up and confront their source. Both of you lay in the darkness together, not sleeping, because Dave wanted to be awake to watch the events unfold. You carried on whispered conversations, exchanging knowledge, drowned out by the hum of lab machinery and vague white noise. When the hour was approaching what Dave's iPhone registered as midnight, the voices began.  
After a moment's hesitation, you climbed out of bed and hovered to the door. On the other side, the deep voice conversed with the raspy voice. It should have occured to you that the trolls would have their own language seperate from English. Alternian, as you had chosen to refer to it for the moment, was full of little purrs, trills, and double consonants. It was a rather nice language to listen to. You tried to imagine someone singing in it.

These thoughts only managed to keep you occupied for the four seconds it took you to reach the control panel, and you sucked in a silent breath as the door slid away.  
Leaning against the far wall of the hallway was Karkat, and a new troll with four thorn-like horns. They both stopped mid-discussion to look at you, and you were only a little amused to see that you'd actually startled Karkat.

"Good evening," you said coolly, clasping your hands before you in a calm manner. "Can I help you gentlemen with anything?"

You floated just barely above the floor, and repressed a squeak as one of your downward movements caused your foot to touch the icy metal.  
Karkat composed himself in record time, smoothing his sharp features, then said something to you in Alternian. Immediately, it was evident that he was speaking slowly for your benefit, and when you didn't reply, dread rose in his face and darkened the shadows around his eyes. Karkat looked as if he hadn't slept in days. The other troll, who wore odd red and blue glasses, appeared to ask Karkat something - at least the lift in tone at the end of a question was universal - and Karkat shook his head.  
"Hey, everything ok?" came Dave's voice from behind you then, and Karkat just sighed, rubbed his temples, and started off down the hallway. Before either human could understand what was going on, both trolls had vanished through the other door, and it shut tight once more.

"A language barrier?" you guessed, as you retreated to your makeshift bed uneasily. Dave, who had donned his glasses again at some point, set them on a stack of your books.  
"I sure as hell had no idea what he was babbling."  
"This makes things more difficult than I had anticipated."  
"Maybe that's the reason why they're keeping us in here. They're studying us. I suddenly feel like those frogs I dissected in the fourth grade."

His hypothesis made just enough sense for you to wonder. Could it be that this language barrier presented some crucial problem, made invisible by the convenient mask over your Seer powers? Pesterchum appeared to have translated Alternian into English on the Earth end, and judging by Karkat's reaction, you bet it worked backwards for you, too.  
You sat up at once, and pulled out your laptop. You'd completely forgotten about Pesterchum.  
When it had loaded up, you saw right away that Kanaya and Karkat had both been pestering you for days, but you left these messages in favour of the memo the latter has just invited you and Dave to.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] opened memo on board WHAT IN THE FRESH GAPING HELL.  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] responded to memo.  
grimAuxiliatrix [GA] responded to memo.  
gallowsCalibrator [GC] responded to memo.  
arachnidsGrip [AG] responded to memo.  
turntechGodhead [TG] responded to memo.  
tentacleTherapist [TT] responded to memo.  


CG: FUCK.  
CG: JUST. FUCK. OF ALL THE THINGS TO NOT HAVE ANTICIPATED.  
CG: I'M JUST SITTING HERE FEELING LIKE A FOUR-SWEEP-OLD FUCKNUGGET  
CG: BREAKING THE CELEBRATORY PAPER WRIGGLING DAY CARCASS WITH A STICK ONLY TO FIND HOT PISS FALLING ON HIS HEAD INSTEAD OF CANDY.  
TT: You're not alone there. Had my Seer powers not chosen this exact moment to take a vacation, we might've prepared for a language barrier.  
TT: Am I correct in assuming your distress stems from an inability to correct this problem?  
TG: not to burst your rage bubble or anything dude  
TG: but this isnt a big deal  
TG: pesterchum has been translating for us all along so whats the problem  
TG: at least we never have to talk to eachother ever  
CG: STRIDER, TAKE YOUR THINKPAN OUT OF YOUR WASTE CHUTE FOR FIVE GODDAMN MINUTES AND THINK ABOUT THIS.  
CG: THE REASON WE DIDN'T EVEN *CONSIDER* THIS WAS BECAUSE PESTERCHUM ISN'T SUPPOSED TO TRANSLATE ANYTHING.  
CG: OR TROLLIAN, FOR THAT MATTER.  
CG: THEY'RE JUST SHITTY CHAT CLIENTS.  
CG: WHEN WE MADE YOUR UNIVERSE, WE MADE IT WITH OUR LANGUAGE SO THAT WE'D BE ABLE TO FUCKING UNDERSTAND WHAT WE WERE DOING.  
CG: SO YES, THIS IS A BIG DEAL. WE WERE PANTS-SHITTING TERRIFIED WHEN YOU ARRIVED HERE AND WE FOUND OUT THAT YOU CAN'T ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND A WORD WE SAY.  
CG: IT MEANS WE FUCKED UP.  
CG: AGAIN.  
GA: All Is Not Lost Karkat  
GA: While Trollian Is Assisting Us In This Manner I Say We Should Utilize It Any Way We Can  
GA: And Attempt To Learn Their Language  
GC: W4IT WHY DO W3 H4V3 TO L34RN TH3IR SHITTY L4NGU4G3?  
GC: OURS IS SO MUCH B3TT3R >:[  
TG: is it really  
AG: Yeah, our language is way cooler. You don't even know.  
GA: Ours Is Also Harder  
TT: I agree with Kanaya. From what I've heard accidentally through closed doors, your language seems fairly complicated.  
GA: It Is Less Complicated And More Physically Demanding  
GA: Compared to Alternian Your Language Is Elementary  
TT: In that case, would be happy to assist you in learning our rather primitive language, Kanaya.  
GA: Yes That Sounds Nice Thank You Rose  
TG: oh man here we go  
TG: interspecies linguistics makeouts are just around the corner  
TG: hey karkat if you gouge out my eyeballs ill gouge out yours ok  
TG: help a bro out shes my sister i dont wanna see that shit  
CG: SHUT UP, DAVE.  
CG: I HAD BETTER NOT SEE ANY OF YOU CRAMMING YOUR TONGUES DOWN EACHOTHERS' SEEDFLAPS OR I SWEAR TO GOD, I'M GOING TO DO SOME SORT OF GRACEFUL ACROBATIC MANOEVER OFF THE FUCKING LANGUAGE HANDLE, AND POSSIBLY EVEN TAKE STRIDER UP ON HIS OFFER TO PERMANENTLY BLIND ME.  
GC: C4N I W4TCH >:?  
CG: NO, FUCK YOU.  
CG: ALSO, GO LEARN ENGLISH.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased responding to memo.  


Karkat left, but since he didn't ban anyone, you sensed that the topic was not closed. The unanswered messages from him and Kanaya were roughly the same - they were worried about something, and were leaving you alone until they figured it out.  
While Karkat's were urgent, Kanaya's were calmer, and not all of them were about the problem at hand.

GA: I Will Admit That I Didnt Imagine Our Meeting Like This  
GA: Me Messaging An Offline Account Through Several Metal Walls As If We Did Not Share A Meteor  
GA: It Is Somewhat Frustrating To Know You Are Here Yet Not Be Able To Properly Introduce Myself And Reestablish Our Previous Friendship On More Solid Ground  
GA: If You Still Want To Be Friends That Is  
GA: I Would Like The Chance To Speak With You In Any Case  
GA: Though If We Are Correct In Our Assumptions That May Never Actually Happen  
GA: I Hope You Are Alright  
GA: And That We Will Meet Soon

A faint and somewhat familiar smile wound its way onto your face. Beneath the onslaught of languages, you and Kanaya would be able to see eachother. The thought calms you just enough to be able to fall asleep.  
It was going to be a long three years.


	2. bilingual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a very short filler chapter. That's what it is.
> 
> I swear the gay stuff will happen soon.

A long time ago, when you were small, your mother used to sing you to sleep.  
As you dream, you imagine you can hear her voice beside you, around you, weaving between strands of your hair and carrying you away through a dark tunnel. At the end is a bright, blinding light, but as you turn back to your mother to tell her that you're scared, you're not sure your mother was ever there. Her voice is still around you. You approach the light, become engulfed in it, but the voice softly singing to you is not your mother's. It never really was, you suppose, because that is simply the way dreams work.  
This voice is higher, younger, yet more delicate and controlled somehow. It is a peal that reminds you of tiny sleigh bells. When you reach for her, she skitters out of your grasp, so you lower your hands and say nothing. The angel is not for you to touch.  
You dream of your planet, your bright and beautiful land of Light and Rain, and you are happy on the sand with the sun and your angel whispering your favourite childhood fairy tale in your ear.

_"Her light filled the space in her heart."_

* * *

 

When you wake, you are snuggled alone under the covers, your cheek pressed to dark velvet. Dave is watching you without his glasses on. His eyebrows are partially raised.  
"Did you know that you speak horrorterror in your sleep?"  
A silly question. Dave had known about this since you had first gone Grimdark. Being neighbours on Derse didn't leave much room for secrets. You imagined your dreamself had spoken constantly in Eldritch tongues any time she was asleep. You were only glad Dave hadn't told anyone else. That was a conversation you hoped to put off for as long as you could, since you couldn't explain it.  
The fact that he'd mentioned it at all meant that something had changed. You sat up, rubbed the sleep from your eyes, and asked "Was I bad?"  
Dave shrugs: "Nah, you were only whispering this time."  
Something else is odd. Dave is watching you calmly as you cast out with your powers, trying once again to See through the veil over your mind's eye. You see Dave, shrouded in darkness, but he is rapping. His notebook lays open on a surface before him. Though this vision tells you nothing, it comforts you in the sense that your god powers are still somewhat functional.  
You attempt to view Karkat next. You are met only with a familiar grey static.  
"The door at the end of the hallway is gone," your brother says conversationally, interrupting your thoughts. You merely nod once, uninterested, as if your own thoughts are far more interesting. You can tell your anticlimactic reaction annoyed him, and it brings a ghost of a smile to your face. In truth, you are anxious to leave the room, and you all but spring out of the bed. One of the perks of being a god was that you never looked nor felt like you'd just woken up. You became perpetual morning people by nature, and as you hover above the bed and stretch, you imagine the warm sunlight back on Earth. Your brother pulls his socks back on, because he could never sleep whilst he was wearing them. After wasting time smoothing the bed sheets, you organize what possessions lie about around the room, until there is nothing left to do but fuss aimlessly over your own appearance.  
When you are prepared and Dave has casually stuffed his hands into his pockets and procured an unbothered expression, the two of you stride out of the lab, side by side, and through the door at the end of the hall. Marveling at how little sound either of you make, even with your feet on the ground, you nearly forget to wonder why you had been allowed out of quarantine in the first place.

The door opened onto yet another hallway, only this one was full of doors. Each one had an odd symbol on the front, likely demonstrating what the room behind it was for. The hallway to your left stretched on into darkness, but the right ended rather abruptly in the bright light from what appeared to be a sitting room.  
When you entered, you immediately understand that you had been waited on. A surprising number of trolls were already gathered in the room; you recognize Vriska, a girl John was fond of, leaning against a wall. She meets your eyes with a pointy smirk. The troll with the odd glasses from before was sitting next to someone Dave identified in a hushed whisper as Terezi. She sniffed the air, and cackled. It appeared that the third voice from the hallway had belonged to her.

Trolls, you observe, are quite pretty in retrospect. They all have the same onyx-black hair, pale grey skin, and striking gold sclera around their dark eyes (the exception to this being Terezi and Sollux, who wore strange ombré glasses that didn't seem transparent in the least).

Sitting over in a corner on a large plush cushion was Karkat, and next to him was who could only be Kanaya.

Even among trolls, she must have been unusually beautiful. From where you stand you can see the length of her eyelashes, her just- pursed lips. Her eyes were alert, hopeful.  
Kanaya doesn't even glance at Dave. Kanaya looks directly at you. And you hold her gaze in turn for as long as you allow herself to, quite frankly, stare at her.  
You feel as pale and insubstantial as a ghost among these striking, dark aliens. Even Kanaya, with her faintly-glowing skin, is an entire cut above your own. When Karkat stands up and starts speaking, you divert your eyes hastily to him. You get the feeling Kanaya did not. It creates a small knot somewhere in your stomach.

It was once again clear that he had not slept. His face had a haunted look about it that is missing from the other trolls, his voice a ragged edge, as if he'd expended all his emotions. He's not even yelling. You wish fervently, for the first real time, that you could understand him. Next to you, Dave is frowning, so you supposed he feels the same. Neither of you enjoy seeing Karkat so extinguished.  
After a while, he motions to all the trolls in the room, who fish their respective communication devices out of invisible sylladex pockets. 

\--- carcinoGeneticist [CG] responded to memo --  
CG: ALRIGHT. FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE WHO DON'T SPEAK ALTERNIAN, I'M GOING TO REPEAT WHAT I JUST SAID TO EVERYONE ELSE.  
CG: FOR NOW, OUR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE IS TO FIND A COMMON LANGUAGE SO WE CAN STOP GAWKING AWKWARDLY AT EACHOTHER FROM ACROSS THE ROOM.  
CG: ARE WE ALL IN AGREEMENT THAT YOU TEACHING US ENGLISH IS LIKELY MUCH EASIER THAN THE ALTERNATIVE?  
CG: YES, WE ARE. GOOD. SO GLAD WE HAD THAT DISCUSSION.

\--- tentacleTherapist [TT] responded to memo ---  
TT: I don't recall any such discussion taking place, but it would appear so.  
TT: Neither Dave nor I have ever taught anyone else English, but we are prepared to try.  
CG: THANKS FOR NOT BEING A DICK ABOUT IT, I GUESS.  
CG: I CAN SEE YOU SMIRKING LIKE AN ASSHOLE OVER THERE, STRIDER. DON'T EVEN START.  
TT: It's not really as if we have a choice in the matter. We must find some way to communicate verbally if we are to succeed in any ventures we may or may not be planning.  
TT: Said hypothetical ventures are pretty much guaranteed to be shitty and long-winded if we have to spend all our time hunched over keyboards, banging out three-letter sentences to eachother and fumbling over a cultural faux-pas.  
CG: GOD, YOU SOUND LIKE KANAYA.

On the couch beside Karkat, you see Kanaya blush delicately, before pinching Karkat.

\--- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] responded to memo ---  
GA: Fuck You Too

She's laughing.

TT: I'll take that as a compliment, Karkat.  
CG: YEAH, GREAT. JUST WHAT WE NEED. TWO FLIGHTY BROADS AND THEIR SNARKY HORSESHIT.

\--- turntechGodhead [TG] responded to memo ---  
TG: anyway  
TG: whats the plan fearless friendleader  
CG: THE PLAN IS RELATIVELY STRAIGHTFORWARD.  
CG: ROSE VOLUNTEERED TO TEACH KANAYA ALREADY. VRISKA'S FAIRLY SURE WE'LL PICK ENGLISH UP AT A STARTLING RATE, SO I SUPPOSE KANAYA AND I COULD TEACH THE OTHERS.  
TG: am i going to get to whisper sweet english nothings into your ear late at night  
TG: like a candlelit schoolfeed type of deal  
CG: I WILL FUCKING HURT YOU.

\--- arachnidsGrip [AG] responded to memo ---  
AG: Noooooooo, dum8ass! That's not how it's supposed to work!  
AG: Rose is supposed to teach Kanaya. Dave is supposed to teach you.  
AG: No8ody needs to teach Gamzee, 8ecause no8ody gives a shit and I'm not even sure where he is.  
AG: Then you'll teach Sollux, and I'm supposed to teach Terezi!  
CG: WHAT INFALLIABLE LOGIC, SPIDERBITCH. AND JUST WHO WILL TEACH YOU?  
AG: Duh, no8ody, genius.  
AG: I already speak English.

The silence in the room could have been diced into neat cubes with Dave's shitty SBaHJ sword. Karkat exploded, shouting at her feverently in Alternian. Vriska just laughed and said a few things back. Kanaya seemed embarrassed by the display.

GA: To Translate Roughly  
GA: John Taught Vriska English A Long Time Ago And She Did Not Think To Bring It Up Until Now  
TT: That, or she purposely withheld information because it's amusing to make Karkat lose his shit.  
GA: Or That Yes

\--- gallowsCalibrator [GC] responded to memo ---  
GC: SO, MISS L4V3ND4R GR4P3FRUIT, HOW 3X4CTLY DID YOU PL4N TO T34CH K4N4YA?  
GC: DO3S IT INVOLV3 H4NDS-ON L34RNING?  
GC: >:]  
GC: > :]  
GC: >:]  
GC: > :]  
TT: I've always found that practice and application works best in most learning situations.  
TT: If what Vriska says is true about you picking up English rapidly, it shouldn't be a problem.  
GC: H3H3H3 SUR3 TH1NG >;] 

You conveniently omit the part about not knowing where to start, choosing instead to shoot a wry glance at Kanaya. She shrugs back. The sigh that leaves your lips is near-silent, but full of dread. There was no way this was going to be easy.  
Kanaya stands up from her perch on the pillows, and motions for you to follow her further into the meteor. You leave after her, without even a parting glance at Dave. You know what his face would say.


	3. poetry on paper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some gay stuff happens. Rose and Kanaya hold hands.

Kanaya's room is dimmer than you thought it'd be, and emptier. In the central room of her living space, she has only a uniformly square bed and a low brown table. On the latter lies several papers and a single pencil. A few balled-up sheets are under the table, discarded.

You peer over at this, and see the odd Alternian symbols printed neatly in rows there. "Taking notes?" you inquire, as Kanaya returns from the mysterious second room. She glances down at the papers, flushes green, then darts across the room to snatch them up. She babbles something hurriedly in Alternian, and vanishes from the room again. You hear her shuffling them into a neat pile. You don't feel the need to remind her that you neither speak nor read her language: her reaction was interesting enough to keep you occupied for the moment it takes her to return. She has a fresh stack of paper and an extra pencil for you, and both of you sit at the table.  
You look at Kanaya over the language barrier wall, and she looks back at you, and for the first time you feel completely and utterly distant from the girl who is supposed to be your best friend. It makes you sad, sadder than you thought it would. Kanaya worries her lower lip delicately with one fang, a small crease between her brows.

Nothing you say will breach that wall. Her hands are twisted into an anxious knot on the table before her.  
Perhaps it is time to allow your actions to speak for you.

You reach across the round table and rest one of your hands on top of both of hers. She looks up as you do, your eyes meet, and the frown melts from her face. Kanaya attempts a smile. You know instantly that she is trying to prevent you from thinking about what she is: that you'll never be able to communicate, that you'll be stuck in an endless feedback loop of one-way words and frustration. Could your friendship survive that?

Kanaya gets her lunchtop out, but leaves one of her hands to entwine with your own.

\-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] \--  
GA: I Wonder If Anything Can Truly Be Done To Correct This  
GA: Regardless Of Vriskas Assurance I Have My Doubts  
GA: Do We Honestly Have The Free Time Necessary For Such An Undertaking  
TT: We will make the time.  
TT: The more I think about it, the more sure I become. This is what we're meant to do, what I'm meant to do, right now.  
TT: Besides, it's not as if we have any alternatives.  
GA: We Do Actually  
GA: We Could Do Nothing

You look up at Kanaya when you see this, and she just shrugs slightly.

GA: I Didnt Say It Was A Favourable Alternative Just That It Existed   
GA: We Have Pesterchum   
TT: One wonders why you didn't bring this up at the meeting.   
GA: Karkat   
TT: Ah.   
GA: We Dont Have The Time To Type Everything Out Whenever We Need To Talk Anyway   
TT: I don't think I'll ever be able to get behind a cause that involves doing nothing. Not anymore.   
TT: Besides, I will admit to feeling a certain gratification with the notion of being the one to teach you English.   
TT: Now, no more Pesterchum for the moment. I think it would be best to start with the basics.

You and Kanaya spend hours, days, and then weeks poring over the books from your inventory. On the paper she brought from what you discovered was a study, Kanaya would draw things, and have you write their English names. She learned at a faster pace than your mother used to knock down shots of tequila, and soon she had moved on to pronouns and adverbs, similies and metaphors, and was afterwards forming complete sentences. Kanaya lorded over colours: she was thrilled that English seemed to have a much wider spectrum of words for them, and she learned hundreds in the span of about an hour. Sometimes she would fetch small scraps of fabric from her sylladex and present you with them, and you would turn the small patch over in your hands for a moment as you assessed the colour.

"Lavender," you tell her on the 8th day, handing back the zig-zag of thick silk. She lays it on the table, and picks up her pencil. Where you expected her to write this word down (the alphabet was the first thing you taught her), you notice her hand moving in slow, even curves, and register vaguely that she is drawing something again.

When she lifts her hand, she has drawn your Squiddle. You know it's yours specifically, because she has included the tell-tale slanted eyes. Kanaya is showing you a memory she has of lavender: you.

You wonder how many times she has drawn this Squiddle. You don't ask. The thought makes you kind of fidgety and you are already very, very done with being fidgety around Kanaya Maryam.

The patch of silk turns out to be the only one Kanaya does not put away. It is laying on the table when the two of you take your midday break, which you decide to spend back in the meeting room. It is mostly empty by then: everyone but Karkat has cleared off, and he deftly ducks out with a bundle of wires under one arm as you enter with Kanaya on your right. He pauses beside her: mutters something, and she answers with a hand touching his and a small crease between her eyebrows. It seems a strangely intimate gesture, but Karkat is gone before you can make sense of the exchange.  
"What?" you ask reflexively, but Kanaya just shakes her head. "Nothing," she says, in perfectly-articulated English.

It occurs to you that what went on was probably a facet of troll society you don't yet understand, and you instantly feel as if your casual inquiry was out of place - even invasive. Shame burns on your cheeks. Kanaya just tilts her head at you and regards you silently. It is becoming alarmingly easy for you to forget that Kanaya's world couldn't be more different from your own.

You remember that nobody but you has heard her speaking English yet, so you are glad for the solitude. You wanted to surprise your friends with just how far she'd progressed. You settle down in the pillow pile beside her, a smile threatening to break out. If this had been a bet-worthy competition, you'd be walking away far richer. Nobody can top your tutoring skills. Nobody. You could teach Dave to dance ballet.

"You are making that face you often make when you are plotting something," Kanaya remarks, and you jerk back to reality with a visible twitch. Her hand has found yours, as it often does, and her eyes are watching it rather than you. She turns your palm over, and traces the faint lines there with a finger. You don't know when you became so accustomed to Kanaya touching you. She does it so carelessly, almost without thinking. The first time it had happened, you'd simply let it without complaint, because it was kind of cute and hell if you minded being closer to Kanaya. You wonder if this kind of light physical affection is normal among trolls who are close - you think back to her exchange with Karkat in the doorway. A small surge of satisfaction warms your toes in being treated as an equal. It is marred by a slight tinge of envy.

You know it's probably because, somewhere within you, you want to be the only one she does this with. Ridiculous. Stupid, stupid, dumb. This is no time to be having odd lesbian thoughts about your best friend.  
Even if she is exceedingly beautiful and smart. And witty. And tickling your palm slightly with her finger and you wonder if she would mind horribly if you held her hand.  
"There are many things I have yet to learn about humans," comes her quiet murmur, "but I do not believe I will ever fully understand you. Could you tell me what you are thinking? Please?"  
Her finger stills, and her hand rests limply against you own. You see her head lift to look at you. "I was wondering much the same," you say, and because you are feeling particularly bold, decide to follow through with an aformentioned inclination.  
You lift your hand a little, hers with it, and hold it properly. You even lace your fingers with hers as an afterthought.

You're genuinely surprised to see a flush of green colour her cheeks. She lets you do it.

For once, Kanaya has absolutely nothing to say. She looks at you carefully, as if you might combust suddenly if she stops paying attention. You merely raise your eyebrows at her, waiting for an explanation that never comes. Kanaya does not make any effort to move her hand. She seems to be expecting something, and when it doesn't come after several silent heartbeats, she relaxes.  
Before you have more time to analyze this, Terezi and Dave are bustling loudly into the meeting room, followed closely by Vriska, who rolls her eyes at you and Kanaya. "Get a roooooooom," she drawls rudely, flopping into the nearest chair. You narrow your gaze. Kanaya shifts, as if to let go of your hand, and you understand instantly that she thinks you're ashamed of her. You simply squeeze her fingers in reply, and feel your mouth harden into a flat line. The gentle pressure she returns after only a moment's hesitation makes your heart splutter erratically.

Your brother and his chosen troll compatriot are talking loudly in English over in a corner, and it only pleases you a little to notice that Terezi is nowhere near as good as Kanaya. There's a distinctly-Alternian edge to almost every sound she makes, and sometimes she'll miss plural clauses on words (which Dave corrects quietly each time, to his credit). It looks as though he's decided to teach Terezi as well as Karkat. You throw a sideways glance at Kanaya. She is doing the same. The two of you lift your chins just a little in unison. Superior. She smirks daintily, the edges of her fangs visible beneath her painted black lips.

You really are so very fond of this girl.

When Karkat returns just moments later, he brings Sollux with him, who is carrying the familiar bundle of wires. Vriska, seemingly not content with leaving you alone, calls out "What's the matter, Lalonde? Haven't you taught your _maitasuna_ to talk to you yet?"  
 _"Maitasuna"_. The word is foreign; almost certainly an Alternian one, yet it sounds familiar somehow. Terezi grins at your confusion. Next to you, Kanaya bristles visibly, already on edge. She has you at an advantage now, understanding every word of that sentence. Her face is green again, but a delicate grimace has settled on her features, and her shining, fierce eyes are fixed squarely on Vriska.

 _"Ixo,"_ she growls lowly, and the spider troll laughs.

"What's wrong, Fussyfangs? Don't tell me you're you being a prude again! Shock! Surprise!!!!!!!!"

_"Vriska , itxi gora."_

Vriska busts out into laughter. Terezi now looks bothered, the previous humor having left the situation. Karkat suddenly snarls something in Alternian to the Serket, who stops laughing almost immediately.  
"Fine, I get it," she breathes, waving her hand at him dismissively. He doesn't stop glowering as he settles into the pillow pile at Kanaya's other side. In almost flawless (though heavily accented) English, he grumbles "Don't let me catch you doing that again," and Vriska finally seems defeated. At least torturing Kanaya is no longer of interest to her for the moment. She settles for annoying Sollux, who seems strangely okay with that.  
Kanaya tucks her free arm into Karkat's, who returns the gesture without pausing. She does not let go of your hand: quite the opposite, Kanaya seems especially content with both you and Karkat sitting by her. She calms down in an instant, like the anger has been sapped out of her. Karkat eyes your interlocked hands, then peers at you analytically. He doesn't comment, and you are glad for it.

Dave calls a Pesterchum meeting that you barely pay attention to, deciding instead to trace lazy circles on the back of Kanaya's hand with your thumb and think about how far ahead the two of you are with English. You chalk it up to your refusal to use Pesterchum with her, and the books you gave to her (though they were mostly grimdark fiction, and you sincerely doubt Kanaya will ever need to use the word "convolute"). You get the impression that nothing interesting is said, anyway. Terezi laughs a lot, Karkat groans, and when Dave starts rapping the party ends fairly quickly. Kanaya escapes to the alchemiter bay just off the meeting area and you wind your way back to your own room on autopilot, though there is nothing to do there.

Your hand still tingles with lingering warmth almost twenty minutes later when you doze off.


End file.
